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Comfort for local community thanks to our defibrillator donation

Date: Thursday 01 March 2018

Our West Midlands region has helped provide peace of mind to residents of a new Worcestershire community by funding a defibrillator for use in medical emergencies. The life-saving equipment has been installed close to the Pennywell Walk and Pennywell Rise developments in Ryall, and is publicly accessible. The hope is that if someone suffers a cardiac arrest nearby, the defibrillator can be used to help try to save their life.

The region made the £500 donation to the Holly Green and Ryall Defibrillator Fund, a campaign led by local residents. This was matched by the Four Acres Trust, and the combined funding was enough to buy the defibrillator, which is the second to be installed in the village.

Ripple Parish Councillor Barbara Wilson said: “On behalf of our community I’d like to say thank you very much to Taylor Wimpey for this generous donation. The response to our campaign has been amazing and really shows how much the community wants this equipment.

“The funds were put towards a defibrillator cabinet which has been installed on the outside of the Blue Bell Inn, which is the nearest publicly accessible building to Pennywell Walk and Pennywell Rise. Our aim is to have residents fully trained in how to operate the equipment to provide people with a chance of life. Heart issues can happen at any age and any time so it will be a comfort for the community to ensure that we can act quickly if someone does go into cardiac arrest.”

Our £500 donation was matched by the Herefordshire-based Four Acre Trust, which is helping the Hereford and Worcestershire Community First Responders and West Midlands Ambulance Service install public access defibrillators across the region.

Steve Madeley, a former Community First Responder who now works to raise awareness of and funding for defibrillators, said: “Right now the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is below 10%, but this can increase greatly with immediate CPR and rapid defibrillation.

“On many occasions, rapid life-saving treatment by the general public has kept victims of sudden cardiac arrest alive prior to the arrival of an ambulance, thanks to a defibrillator being available – by placing this in a village we can increase the likelihood of survival.”

Elaine Cartwright, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Midlands, said: “We feel it’s extremely important to invest in the communities in which we build our homes and installing defibrillators in the local area will be a tremendous benefit to all local residents. We’re honoured to lend our support to such an important cause – and we wish the community all the best with their upcoming fundraising efforts.”